State Senate passes bill to require NCAA fine funds to stay in Pa.

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HARRISBURG -- A measure that would require funds from Penn State's $60 million NCAA fine to be spent on programs within Pennsylvania passed the state Senate unanimously.

That measure, from Republican Sen. Jake Corman, whose Centre County district includes Penn State's University Park campus, now goes to the state House of Representatives for consideration.

The fine -- which will go into an endowment for programs preventing child abuse or assisting abuse victims -- is part of a set of NCAA sanctions resulting from the university's child sexual abuse scandal.Other penalties under that agreement are a four-year ban on post-season play, sharp cuts in football scholarships and forfeiture of 111 football wins going back to 1998.

Mr. Corman's bill would require Penn State and any other higher-education institutions in the future that are required by a governing association to pay a financial penalty in installments of $10 million or more to make those payments into an endowment set up through the state treasurer.

Under the measure, the funds could be used only to benefit Pennsylvania residents. The dollars would be distributed through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

"This fine money is coming from Pennsylvania residents, so it makes sense that it should stay here to benefit organizations and the children of the commonwealth," Mr. Corman said.

Penn State paid its first $12 million installment into an endowment fund in December.

The NCAA has since said it will not to begin dispersing those funds until a third-party administrator is appointed, and that the organization will notify Mr. Corman, who also has filed a lawsuit over the fine, before any distribution occurs.